History

While Hawker worked on the Sea Hawk and the Hunter, Supermarine were working
on their type 510. This was to be basically an Attacker with swept wings.
First flight was on the 29th of December 1948. Flown by M J Lithgow, it was
the first British jet aircraft with swept wings and tailplane.
Powered by the large Rolls Royce Nene engine (as used in the Vampire), this
meant that the fuselage of the type 510 was larger than that of the Hunter.
VV106, the first type 510, underwent various carrier trials. In the process
it became the first swept-wing jet to both land and take-off from an aircraft
carrier (the Americans, for once, were two years behind on this score).
After these trials, and with the Admiralty losing interest, modifications
were made to improve the aircraft's performance at high speeds and altitudes;
greater stability was badly needed.

At the time, Handley Page were designing their Victor V-Bomber and decided to test their wing
and tail design on a smaller aircraft. A type 510 fuselage (basically an Attacker fuselage with
Swift wingroots, then designated type 521 by Supermarine) was bought from Supermarine and after a brief stay
at General Aircraft, moved onto Blackburn where it
was married to appropriate crescent-shaped wings and a T-tail, becoming known as the YB.2, or
HP.88. Coded VX330, it actually flew too late to be of much use in the Victor programme and
was lost in an accident on August 26th, 1951, killing HP pilot, Duggie Broomfield.

VV119, the Type 535; Vickers-Armstrong

Moving back to the Swift programme proper, the second of the real Swift ancestors
was VV119, the type 528. Very soon after its first flight on the 27th of March 1950, it was modified to change the
hated tailwheel undercarriage to a nosewheel arrangement (though the twin
tailwheels were retained as bumpers). Other modifications were carried out;
longer, pointed nose; kinked wing leading edge, larger fuselage diameter
(to accommodate an afterburning tailpipe), greater fuel capacity and provision
for four cannon in the wings. In this form the aircraft was known as the
type 535, and this variation first flew on the 23rd of August 1950.

WJ970, the first Swift prototype in April 1952; Ministry of Supply

By this time the Korean war concentrating Ministry minds on the quickest possible production of
a useable fighter and the Air Ministry had become interested in a development of the Type 535 as a
back-up plan for the Hunter programme, which was experiencing some difficulties and
not expected to begin deliveries until 1953. Supermarine were given the contract to produce 100
suitable aircraft, to be named Swift. These were to be the Type 541, and would use Rolls Royce AJ.
65 Avon engines instead of the less powerful Nenes used on the current slew of development projects
underway at Supermarines. While the Avon, also being used in the Hunter, was amuch slimmer design
than the Nene, it was considered too late to redesign the fuselage inherited from the Type 535 (and
would no doubt have proved too expensive) so the wide fuselage remained and it was obvious from the
start that the aircraft would not meet performance requirements using the relatively underpowered
version of the Avon intended for the first batch of aircraft. The armament provision was changed from
four cannon in the wings to two under the intakes. An RAE report on the development showed that
the Swift would be a very poor performer at high altitude and some wing redesign would be necessary but
despite this, the RAF were not informed and the order was even increased to a total of 150 before a
prototype had even flown. That finally happened on the 1st of August 1951, with WJ960, the first true
Swift prototype, getting airborne. The second, WJ965, flew in July the next year but two forced
landings caused a delay in the programme.

Swift F.1s of 56 squadron in 1954; M. J. F. Bowyer

After the DH.110 disaster at Farnborough, more
modifications were carried out on the Swift prototypes and they resumed
flying in February 1953, by which time another 140 aircraft had been ordered!
In March that year the first production Swift F.1 finally flew. While the first of the
F.1s were in production, armament was increased to four 30mm Aden cannon (after the
Hunter had shown this to be possible), and the Swift F.2 was born. Unfortunately the
extra room required for the extra ammunition was made by extending the wings forward
at the fuselage join, and this caused a problem whereby the Swift could go into an abrupt
pitch-up attitude, flipping onto its back in a matter of seconds. A number of fixes
were made but none fully solved the problem until extra ballast was added
to the nose of the aircraft. Obviously, this had the effect of making the
aircraft rather less sprightly! Orders were also continuing to increase without any apparent
regard for the problems being exhibited by the aircraft - indeed a US evaluation of the type
in late 1952 was damning.

WK247, the first F.3; MoD

An F.3 variant was in the process of being produced, these being reheat-capable.
These, however, were destined never to be flown by the RAF, being used as instructional
airframes only after trials found them unacceptable for service use. Meanwhile Supermarine continued
working on a further improved variant, still battling to fix the pitch-up problem, and produced the F.4 (Type 546) as a result; the
fix being a variable incidence tailplane which went some way towards curing the problem.

The F.4, which had first flown in May 1953, soon made its name by breaking the world
absolute speed record over Libya on 26th September 1953 with Mike Lithgow at the
controls - 735 miles per hour, beating Neville Duke's record of 727 mph set
using a Hunter F.3 three weeks earlier. The record only lasted a matter of days,
though, before the American's Douglas Skyray pushed it up to over 753 miles per hour.

WK198 making a low pass over spectators in Libya, 1953 - note the black band
on the nose for photographic reference purposes

56 squadron received their first Swift F.1s on the 13th of February 1954, though the
aircraft had numerous restrictions placed upon them with regards to
gun firing, top speed and service ceiling. In spite of this, the Swift still
holds the honour of being the first British built swept-wing jet fighter into RAF service.
Numerous accidents resulted in the grounding of all Swifts in late August, and 56
Squadron 'ground itself to a halt'. The Central Fighter Establishment said that it was
unlikely that the Swift would ever be a suitable fighter. When F.2s replaced the F.1s a
few days later (30th August), the restrictions were relaxed,
but two aircraft were then lost in pitch-up accidents and the Swift fleet was
once again grounded. By March of 1955 the RAF had had quite enough
of the Swift and the order was given to withdraw them from service. The major problem
was the type was completely incapable of combat at altitudes beyond 40,000 ft - it had
neither the manouevrability, endurance or reliability required.

Swift FR.5 prototype WK200; Flight

While the F.4 did not exhibit all of the problems of the earlier marks, and it must have
delighted the Supermarine team to have beaten the Hawker Hunter's speed record,
all was not well with the F.4. It turned out that the F.4's reheat could not
be lit at high altitude, which, for an interceptor, was not a wonderful
feature - and as it needed reheat to even stay straight and level at high altitude,
this was a killer blow. Only nine were built, and production then switched to the FR.5
(type 549), a low-level reconaissance variant.

With the RAF having decided that the Swift was a dead-end as a fighter, and with the Hunter now entering
widespread servicein this role, the Swift's fortunes lay in what had been seen as a secondary role - reconnaissance.
The FR.5 was fitted with a lengthened nose housing cameras and this was finally a
useful aircraft, and as it operated at medium to low level, the high
altitude problems did not matter. From March 1956 II(AC) Squadron (and later 79 Squadron) operated the FR.5 in Germany.

Two FR.5s of 79 squadron accompanying two Hunters; MoD

The Swift FR.5 actually did very well in the reconaissance role; in 1957
and 1959 Swifts actually won the NATO 'Royal Flush' reconaissance competition,
conclusively beating off the best types other nations could offer, including the
American's RF-84 Thunderflash. The punishing low-level reconaissance role proved
to be no problem for the strong Swift airframe, and no fatigue problems were
encountered. It even became a popular aircraft with crews, something that would
have amazed the crews of earlier variants. FR.5s were eventually replaced by the
Hunter FR.10.

Swift FR.5 plans; The British Fighter

A proposed unarmed PR.6 variant (the type 550) was cancelled before production because of the
reheat at altitude problems, but fourteen F.7s were built; these being equipped with radar in an extended
nose cone and Blue Sky (Fairey Fireflash) beam-riding air-to-air missiles. While not
used in RAF squadron service, they provided valuable information to the Guided Weapon
Development squadron and were the first RAF fighters to employ AAMs.

Swift F.7 with Fireflash AAMs; via Zvi Kreisler

Often regarded as an abysmal failure, the Swift programme was from the
start hampered by the problems of changing the engine from Nene to Avon and
the lack of time to develop the aircraft along with poor communication between
the RAF, government and the manufacturers. It was, after all, only ever
intended as back-up in case the Hunter programme failed and despite the Hunter's
early problems these had all been overcome with the introduction of the Hunter F.6.
With the end of the Korean war, the urgent need for large numbers of fighters also
evaporated and the amount of money needed to fix the Swift's problems could not be
justified in the face of the ever-increasing success of the Hawker Hunter.

Leading Particulars

Variant

Type 510

Type 528

Type 535

Type 541

F.1

F.2

F.3

F.4

FR.5

F.7

First flight

28 Dec 1948

27 Mar 1950

23 Aug 1950

1 Aug 1951

25 Aug 1952

?

?

27 May 1953

27 May 1955

Apr 1956

Crew

One

Armament

None

Two 30mm cannon

Four 30mm cannon, 8 unguided rockets

None

As F.2

As F.1

Two Fairey Fireflash AAMs

Powerplant

Rolls-Royce Nene

Rolls-Royce AJ.65 Avon

7,500 lb Rolls-Royce Avon RA7

7500 lb Rolls-Royce Avon RA7R

7,175 lb (9,450 lb reheat) Rolls-Royce Avon 114

9,950 lb (reheat) Rolls-Royce Avon 116

Max. speed

?

660 mph

709 mph

?

?

713 mph

700 mph

Service ceiling

?

45,500 ft

39,000 ft

?

?

45,800 ft

41,600 ft

Range

?

730 miles

493 miles

?

?

630 miles

864 miles

Empty weight

?

11,892 lb

13,136 lb

?

?

13,435 lb

13,735 lb

Max. take off weight

?

15,800 lb

19,764 lb

?

?

21,673 lb

21,400 lb

Wing span

?

32 ft 4 in

?

?

As F.2

35 ft

Wing area

?

306 sq ft

321 sq ft

?

?

328 sq ft

348 sq ft

Length

?

41 ft 5.5 in

?

?

42 ft 3 in

43 ft 9 in

Height

?

12 ft 6 in

12 ft 6 in*

13 ft 6 in

*Some F.4s appeared to have higher fins than others; does
anybody have any further information on this?

Visitor Comments

45 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 5.

Graham BULL from England

Posted at 10:22am on Friday, April 13th, 2018

As a teenager on holiday with my folks at Treaddur Anglesey in the mid fifties,I was thrilled to see Swifts in and around Valley base. My question is,we're they 5's or 7's and what year would this have been?

Alan Mudge from Kings Lynn

Posted at 10:48am on Thursday, November 24th, 2016

When I started my RAF apprenticeship at Halton in 1957, there was some Swift airframes being broken up. During my later service, I spoke with fellow armourers who had worked on the thing. It was not well loved by them, mainly because the 30mm. cannon were prone to many technical stoppages when fired. Basically, it was a lousy gun platform.

John Hickford from Netherlands

Posted at 9:33pm on Sunday, February 15th, 2015

i worked on swifts camberas hunters javelins when i was posted to CMU RAF LAARBRUCH. i have still got a scaar on my head going under the wing of a leaking SWIFT in the hanger.this was between 1961-1963

John Hickford from Netherlands

Posted at 9:32pm on Sunday, February 15th, 2015

i worked on swifts camberas hunters javelins when i was posted to CMU RAF LAARBRUCH. i have still got a scaar on my head going under the wing of a leaking SWIFT in the hanger

George Humberston from Dereham Norfolk

Posted at 3:37pm on Tuesday, February 10th, 2015

As a school boy I watched the Swift fly from Chilbolton.A few years later some of the airframes were at RAF St Athan being used for trade training.

R Nash from Cornwall

Posted at 9:53pm on Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

Back in, I think, 1956, s a teenager, I had the priviledge of working on the Swift at the Supermarine factory at Trowbridge. My job was to paint some evil smelling white solution inside the tailpipe. We also used compressed air drills. Since I was (and am) 'keen'on aircraft, the job was a pleasure. A beautiful 'plane'.

Ian Harker from LIVINGSTON SCOTLAND

Posted at 8:03pm on Sunday, March 9th, 2014

WORKED AT CMU LAARBRUCH 60/61 AND TRAVELLED TO JEVER TO REMOVE SWIFT WINGS AND REBUSH WING ROOT BUSHES, SEEM TO REMEMBER THE BOLTS JUST FELL OUT. ALSO THE WING WAS VERY PHRONE TO FUEL LEAKS WAS GLAD TO SEE THEM REPLACED WITH HUNTERS

Louis Doherty from Thurles

Posted at 8:31am on Monday, February 10th, 2014

Swift and Javelin come to mind. Favourite aircraft :)

John Perkin from Taunton

Posted at 8:56am on Friday, January 3rd, 2014

Swifts were always an inspiration at school in the early 1950's.

First seen at RAF Halton in April 1957 and then at RAF Church Fenton in early 1961 when they had been flown back from West Germany for disposal.

I went to see the FR5 at Tangmere last year.

Frank Beck from cheshire

Posted at 8:10pm on Sunday, October 13th, 2013

Never seen a Swift fly but i believe there was
2 swifts mounted at RAF Cardington when I went into the mob as a recruit at Cardington, before I went to Bridenorth